Related papers: A Polarization Pursuers' Guide
If the linear polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is rotated in a frequency-independent manner as it propagates from the surface of last scatter, it may introduce a B-mode polarization. Here I show that measurement of…
We show that the cosmic birefringence and miscalibrated polarisation angles can be determined simultaneously by cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments using the cross-correlation between $E$- and $B$-mode polarisation data. This is…
This paper presents a polarization calibration method applied to a microwave polarimeter demonstrator based on a near-infrared (NIR) frequency up-conversion stage that allows both optical correlation and signal detection at a wavelength of…
Atmosphere is one of the most important noise sources for ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. By increasing optical loading on the detectors, it amplifies their effective noise, while its fluctuations introduce…
Much recent work on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) has focussed on the angular power spectrum of temperature anisotropies and particularly on the recovery of cosmological parameters from acoustic peaks in the power spectrum. However,…
Polarization observations of the cosmic microwave background with the Cosmic Background Imager from September 2002 to May 2004 provide a significant detection of the E-mode polarization and reveal an angular power spectrum of polarized…
Future Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) satellite missions aim to use the $B$ mode polarization to measure the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ with a sensitivity of about $10^{-3}$. Achieving this goal will not only require sufficient detector…
Following Kamionkowski (2008), a quadratic estimator of the rotation of the plane of polarization of the CMB is constructed. This statistic can estimate a spatially varying rotation angle. We use this estimator to quantify the prospects of…
We discuss new techniques and ideas in mm-wave instrumentation that can be used in CMB (Cosmic Microwave background) polarization experiments. Novel techniques in antenna receiver, beam combining and detector systems have resulted in…
Microwave background polarization, though presently undetected, is a fundamental prediction of any viable cosmological model. These lectures review the theoretical description of polarization, its physical interpretation, and potentially…
The most convincing confirmation that the B-mode polarization signal detected at degree scales by BICEP2 is due to the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) would be the measurement of its large-scale counterpart. We assess the requirements for…
The cosmological birefringence caused by the coupling between the cosmic scalar field and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons through the Chern-Simons term can rotate the polarization planes of the photons, and mix the CMB E-mode…
We describe the design and expected performance of Clover, a new instrument designed to measure the B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background. The proposed instrument will comprise three independent telescopes operating at 90,…
We discuss what can be learned about the baryon density from an all-sky map of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) with sub-degree angular resolution. With only minimal assumptions about the primordial spectrum of density perturbations…
We summarize the physical mechanism by which the Cosmic Microwave Background acquires a small degree of polarization. We discuss the imprint left by gravitational waves and the use of polarization as a test of the inflationary paradigm. We…
Recent announcements that the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) - the faint remnant of the Big Bang - is polarized have caused a stir among cosmologists. Such polarization has long been predicted but could not be detected, until the recent…
Weak lensing distortion of the background cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization patterns by the foreground density fluctuations is well studied in the literature. We discuss the gravitational lensing modification to…
We compute the spectral distortions of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization induced by non-linear effects in the Compton interactions between CMB photons and cold intergalactic electrons. This signal is of the $y$-type and is…
The polarization of the CMBR represents a powerful test for modern cosmology. It allows to break the degeneracy of fundamental cosmological parameters, and also to observe the contribution of gravitational waves background to the CMBR…
We demonstrate that the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature-polarization cross-correlation provides accurate and robust constraints on cosmological parameters. We compare them with the results from temperature or polarization and…